Hi, we were there this past weekend. It was great. No fence, we had the priviledge of ostriches as guests. There were how ever not that many animals that we saw. Bewarned that if you do go up the Lenong Drive, the road is veeeerrrrrryyyyy narrow. If you encounter traffic, it can be a problem, there is no space to move off the road and it is vvveeeerrrrryyyyy high. We enjoyed it very much and will defenately go back again. For a rest it is the perfect place. O yeah, when entering the camp site, keep left, there is a water hole on the left that is visible from the camp sites. Enjoy!!

Some good news on Marakele is that the provincial road which dissects the park, cutting it in to two sections, has been de-proclaimed. It will now be possible to unite the two sections and remove the fence.

As soon as this happens, animals will be able to move naturally between the sections.

I do not know if and when this will happen, as there are some other considerations, such as visitor safety at Bontle which first needs to be addressed.

The unfenced Bontle with its regular Rhino visitors must be unique to all SANPARKS. I doubt if the gain of an open park will be worth it. Another open park will just be that - "unother park" with fenced campsite.

I trust that the powers to be will carefully consider the options and pro's and con's.

Not to worry, if the do fence Bontle, I don't think will not happen in a hurry.

We heard about this a few months ago when we spoke to the Duty and Tourism manager. They are not all that keen to fence Bontle. Who knows, Bontle might even be the first unfenced SANParks camping area. If they can have it in Botswana, we can have it here.

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~ Anatole France

Must agree 100%, if Bontle is fence i think it will loose the magic.No more being when going to the loo at night.No more chasing away of rhino from my braai.Not to talk about all the other animals that will come and say hello early morning, especialy the impala rams during mating season.

I for one am happy the two parts will be united. Our old family farm (Geelhoudbos & Kameeldraai) was on the part that you could not visit and when I went there for the first time after ten years I could drive to within a few kilometres of where my family farmed for years! I think I will be very sad going back there but it will also be nice!

Another two cents comment from me, all camps in all parks can be open, we are intruding in there living room.another plus that might come from open camp site, ppl coming to the park to get drunk might think twice.

It will be a proper bush camp with no facilities so guests will have to be self sufficient. They demolished a couple of the huts but left a few for historical value. The existing huts might be available and there will also be camping sites, all unfenced.

However hard we tried, we could not get an indication about when the camp would be available. They are still working on the layout and standards.

This camp will be very exiting! The lions were very vocal from that direction all of Friday night!

We'll be watching this space!

A new Safari tent section will be built close to Bontle but they are still waiting for the EIA to be completed. No fence for Bontle being planned at this stage!

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~ Anatole France

The process of access control is not completed yet we are still working with Dept of roads and transport Limpopo, we are however not deproclaiming the road completely, but putting access control for security purposes. We will update once the process has been finalized